Man sought in six attempted abductions

Keith Paul

Friday, Dec. 17, 1999 | 11:20 a.m.

Metro Police are looking for a man who is apparently trying to prey on young girls in the southwest Las Vegas Valley.

There have been six apparently related attempted abductions in the past month, including three on Wednesday.

After three failed abductions on Wednesday within two hours of each other, Metro Police reviewed some cases from the past month and found two other attempted abductions and one kidnapping that appear connected to the recent cases. In one of those older cases the girl was sexually assaulted.

On Thursday an attempted kidnapping occurred in the area of Rainbow Boulevard and Spring Valley Parkway. A 9-year-old girl told police a man tried to nab her, but she was able to run away. The suspect in that case may be the same as in the other six, police said.

Starting Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. a man showed a 13-year-old girl a gun and told her to come with him. The girl refused and ran away unharmed, police said. Then in the next two hours in the same area, two other 13-year-old girls at separate times were approached by a man. Each time the girl was able to run away from the man, police said.

In all the cases, the girls were walking alone. In six of the cases, the man approached the girls in the afternoon to early evening hours. All of the attempts were in the southwest part of town.

The suspect was described as a Hispanic or Asian man, about 5 feet 6 inches tall with a medium build and black hair with a bowl-cut style. Police are in the process of creating a sketch of the suspect.

Anyone with information in this case is asked to call Metro Police at 795-3111 and ask for Sgt. Chris Carroll of the Sexual Assault Detail or call Secret Witness at 385-5555.

These attempted abductions come about two months after the disappearance of 7-year-old Karla Rodriguez. There has been no sign of Rodriquez since she was last seen playing with friends on Oct. 20 in the 700 block of Bonita Avenue near Sixth Street and St. Louis Avenue.

Monday night police thought they had a break in Karla's case. Officers spent about two hours searching rooms at the Glass Pool Inn on the south end of the Strip.

Police said they received a phone call from a reliable source saying someone staying at the motel had information about Karla. Police questioned guests, checked all around the motel and even looked on the roof, but they found no clue that could help lead them to the missing girl.